Due to increased Internet bandwidth to the home, environmental considerations, and economic factors, more and more people are starting to work at home rather than to go into a more traditional work place. This trend cuts across a variety of industries and governmental entities. Whereas, working at home does allow the individual to avoid commuting and to have a larger and quieter work space, an individual who works at home does not have the group experience. In a more traditional office environment where a number of people sit in close proximity, an individual having a question can simply voice the question in a short voice expression and get an immediate response from the group. An individual working at home can set up a conference call to all of the individuals in the group who are remote and ask the same question, but this is a time consuming process.
The other alternative that can be utilized is to send an instant message to the group. The disadvantaged of the instant message is that it requires the individual to type the question and then for people to respond with a written answer. It is well known that for short questions most people prefer to hear the question and respond vocally.